Dakar 2009

Francisco López made history after winning first round of Dakar Rally. On the first day the rally crossed onto Chilean soil, the Curicó native lucked out with the shortest stretch.
And on Friday January 9th, just as the caravan was arriving in Valparaíso, the Curicó native triumphed in the seventh round of the race, a route that was was made shorter by the organization due to problems experienced by drivers the previous day on the Nihuil dunes. The final length of the route was only 238 chronometric kilometers.
López won the seventh stretch of the race after surpassing Spanish driver Marc Coma, who arrived 3 minutes and 57 seconds behind him. The Chilean driver took a total of 2hours 39 minutes and 9 seconds to complete the section. French national Cyril Despres took third place, coming in 5 minutes and 21 seconds behind the Chilean.
López had begun in fourth place after ending the day in the same position. Nevertheless, the Chilean national was reported to be in second place at the 91st kilometer of the stretch and, after 138 kilometers, López managed to pass Coma and take the lead.
With the triumph, Chile's native representative in the Dakar Rally should appear for the first time among the race's top ten participants. (EMOL)